


The Other Person in the Room

by kiwisandwich (panconkiwi)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Angst without plot, I am very sorry, M/M, You know PWP? This is AWP, seriously there's no reason for this to exist, well I'd say is more Wangsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3703129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panconkiwi/pseuds/kiwisandwich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asahi's apartment is being haunted, but he doesn't believe in ghosts.<br/>The ghost does believe in him, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Person in the Room

**Author's Note:**

> I never write angst and here's the reason.  
> It happened like this: I came home tired as hell yesterday, went straight to bed, and had a nap. In my semiconcicious state, I dreamed of this fic, and I swear it felt like I was meeting my magnum opus because I had to wake myself up and get to write it ipso facto.  
> After two hours and 2k words I looked at it and... what the fuck. Why did I write this shit. Why did I think this was a good idea. It doesn't even make sense, it's just sad for the sake of being sad.  
> But I'm posting it anyway because, fuck it, practice is practice and I skipped Camp NaNo yesterday because of this.
> 
> Beta reader: Migi (pudzpotato@twitter ~~no weón no voy a poner tu url de tumblr~~ )

He woke up in the middle of the night to find someone else in the room.

“Leave this place,” the other said.

Covered in cold sweat, his heart beating fast, and his eyes fixed on the ceiling, he just ignored them and went back to sleep.

When morning came, the other was still there. As he got dressed, he heard:

“Leave this place.”

But he didn’t believe in ghosts, so he tried ignoring them. It didn’t work.

“Listen, Asahi-san, you must leave.”

“No,” Asahi found himself saying, despite his best efforts to remain sane, and despite his fear. “This is my room.”

“Not anymore. Get outta here.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I need to find someone first.”

And, just like that, he opened the door and stepped outside. He had been looking at the floor the whole time because he was scared of what he would see in the other’s face. _Not that it matters, ghosts are not real._

* * *

 

Asahi had been looking for him around town, but he wasn’t anywhere. At the end of the day, next to the river, Asahi waited for the sun to come down.

At home, the other was still in the room.

“Will you leave now?”

“I just came back.”

“Why don’t you look at me when you talk?”

Because he was scared of seeing himself in the other’s face.

“What does it matter?” He gathered some courage, walked past the other towards the door to his room, and got into bed. “You are not real.”

“I’m as real as you!”

But Asahi was already sleeping.

* * *

 

“Who are you looking for?” Asked the other the next morning. They were standing right in front of the bed as to be the first thing Asahi saw in the morning, but, lucky for him, he just got to see the other’s torso before shifting his gaze to the floor.

“Let me get off the bed,” pleaded Asahi.

They moved away and Asahi began once again his morning routine. The other tried to make him look at them more than once, but Asahi was really good at avoiding people’s gazes, and when he had nowhere else to look, he just closed his eyes.

“Look at me when I talk, Asahi-san! Who are you looking for? And why?"

Asahi didn’t want to tell them, but, regardless, he said out loud, “Because I need to tell him something.” Asahi didn't want to forget.

“What if I help you look?”

Asahi didn't like that. “Please stay away from him.”

“I could give him your message, you just need to tell me-”

Asahi turned back, and as angry as he was, he almost looked at the other in the face. But he was still scared. “Stay away from him!”

The other didn’t say anything as he left through the door.

* * *

 

That day, Asahi saw two of his friends.

They were walking on the opposite sidewalk, and didn't notice when he waved hello. This made Asahi feel a little sad, but he still had to look around town, so he brushed it off and continued with his quest.

The river was the same as the day before.

When he got home, the other didn’t ask anything. Asahi said anyway:

“I think he has already left.”

The other walked towards him, but Asahi turned around and went straight to bed. He didn’t mention it might’ve been his fault.

* * *

 

The next day, the other wasn’t in the room when Asahi woke up.

_Maybe he has finally given up?_

But when he walked into the living room, the other was looking through the window. Asahi saw up to his shoulders before turning to the wall.

“What’s his name?” The other asked.

Asahi didn’t want to tell them, because it was none of their business, and because they weren’t real.

But the other knew something Asahi didn't. “You don't know his name.”

Asahi stared at to the window, but the other wasn’t there anymore. He spoke from behind, gaving him a chill. Asahi suddenly felt like crying.

“Asahi-san, do you even know _your_ name?”

“O-of course I do! I'm Asahi!”

“You know because I’ve been calling you that.”

“I know because it’s _mine_.”

“Then, tell me, Asahi-san, what’s your last name?”

The other was in front of him now, and Asahi barely had time to move his gaze to the floor.

“You don’t know, right? I bet you don’t know _my_ name either!” The other was laughing, or crying, or both. Asahi couldn’t tell, he was too busy holding back his own tears and averting the other’s gaze.

“If you looked at me, you would find out,” they invited him, coming closer.

Asahi had to shut his eyes. The air around him felt cold, but he was sweating. The other kept talking, and laughing, and crying, and Asahi didn’t know what else to do, where else to run.

“You may even remember your own name! It’s as easy as that! Look at me, Asahi-san, I-”

Asahi shoved them.

Eyes still closed, he made his way through the door and left.

He stayed all day at the river, thinking about the sound of the water and the other’s body under his hands.

It had felt real.

* * *

 

When Asahi came back home, the other wasn’t there, nor the next day, or the day after that.

And, Asahi noticed, neither were the people from his apartment complex. The building had been strangely quiet in the past days, maybe it was the cold weather? Not that it mattered, as long as _he_ was somewhere out there, Asahi had to leave every day anyway.

So he kept looking.

* * *

 

A week went by. Asahi was starting to feel alone, but that wasn’t what scared him the most.

* * *

 

At the end of the eighth day, the other was waiting for Asahi outside his apartment.

“It’s been long enough, dontcha think?”

Yes, it had been, but Asahi wasn’t going anywhere yet.

“There’s nothing else for you here, Asahi-san. Leave this place. I’ll show you the way.”

Asahi was too tired to argue. “Please move away,” he sighed. He didn’t want to use force again, to _touch_ them.

“You can’t come in,” was the other’s answer.

Asahi wasn’t looking at them, he was scared, but he felt their gaze on him and shivered.

“This is my room.”

“Not anymore. Let’s leave this place at once, you-”

Asahi threw a punch, he didn’t need to see the other’s face to know where to direct the hit, and, as they ducked, he closed his eyes again.

His fist collapsed against the door, and he heard the other warn him one last time before openi-

* * *

 

_A scream._

_Asahi opened his eyes._

_There were three silhouettes inside. Black. The rest was gray. Their voices were no more than white noise, but he managed to get the meaning behind those words:_

_“Who opened the door?”_

“ASAHI-SAN!”

* * *

 

The other shoved him to the side and closed the door. Asahi was about to look at him, but they had already moved. Where did they go? What happened to Asahi’s apartment? Was Asahi...?

“Don’t close your eyes! Look at me! Fuck, I get it. Just look at the ceiling or the floor. Are you listening? Asahi-san?!”

“Were they real? The ones in my room?”

“Don’t think about them, they’ll go away eventually. But I won’t, _not without you_. Listen to me, I’m here.”

“You are not real!”

“I am as real as you.”

“ _He_ is not real! Not anymore, and it was my fault.”

“No, Asahi-san, if you knew him, then he is real.”

“I’m scared.”

“It’s alright. Hold my hand, can you feel it?”

“Yes.”

“Can you hear my voice?”

“Yes.”

“Can you see me?”

“I’m scared.”

“Fine, you don’t have to-”

“What if I don’t see myself when I look at you?”

The other didn't answer.

Asahi was crying, but he didn’t let go of the other’s hand.

* * *

 

The door opened on its own. Asahi was facing down, so he saw the other’s feet move as they got up and went to check the inside of the apartment.

“You can come in now,” the other called.

Asahi got up, his gaze never leaving the floor.

His room was just as he had left it in the morning. The other was looking through the window, and Asahi saw the back of their head for the first time.

The other was much more smaller than Asahi, almost like a kid, but for some reason he didn’t think there was that much of an age gap between them. If ghosts had ages at all.

Asahi understood, then. “You can leave on your own.”

And the other said, “Not without you.”

“But there’s nothing stopping you, right?”

“Asahi-san, I _won’t_ leave without you.”

He felt a small pain pierce his chest, like a sewing needle. The other didn’t sound demanding, or even sad, just determined. This, too, was Asahi’s fault.

Maybe it was time for him to give up, too.

“Can you help me find him tomorrow?”

The other didn’t give any signs of reacting to his words, but, to Asahi, their answer had the sound of a smile.

“Sure.”

* * *

 

Asahi closed the door for the last time as the other waited in the hall. He probably wouldn’t see the room the way he had left it ever again, but there wasn’t anything inside that he would miss terribly; all he had was a message, and he would lose his own name before that.

He saw the other’s hand approach his from the corner of his eye. “If I leave this building without you, they’ll think I’m on my own.”

“But I’ll leave, too. Whatever happens today, I’ll join you when the sun sets.”

The other took his hand and held it tight.

“I want us to do it together!”

Asahi scoffed, but he didn’t let go.

They walked around town, and it was as empty as Asahi thought it would be. The height difference made it a bit uncomfortable for the two of them to hold hands, but he didn’t really mind.

“I wonder,” he said out loud, but was mostly talking to himself. “How can I hold your hand if you are not real?”

The other snorted, and, as if to make a point, they grabbed Asahi’s arm with both hands. “How can you hold anything if _you_ aren’t real?”

“But I am real.”

“And so am I.”

Asahi was just beginning to convince himself of that.

After a couple hours of walking around, Asahi saw one of his friends on the street, but as he intended to call him, the other stopped him on his tracks.

“Do you know his name?”

Asahi didn’t.

“If you looked at me, you would find out.”

He watched his friend’s silhouette become smaller and smaller, until he couldn’t see it anymore in the distance.

“I will remember. Then, I’ll come back to say hello.”

The other seemed pleased with that answer as he put himself in motion, dragging Asahi with them.

* * *

 

The river looked like it always had: still and peaceful. But its waters hid a dangerous current. Asahi felt cold, even with the other’s hand wrapped around his. _He_ wasn’t anywhere.

“I think this is it.”

The other didn’t say anything. Asahi wondered about the expression on their face, probably a smug grin, after all, they had told Asahi there wasn’t anything for him in that place anymore. Still, Asahi had hoped _he_ would come back and forgive him, but that wasn’t possible. Ghosts weren’t real.

“You know,” he started, “I don’t think I would have liked it if he had suddenly shown up around town. I’m kind of a scaredy cat.”

“You don’t say,” joked the other.

“I just wanted to apologize,” confessed Asahi. “And also… I know it’s too late, and he probably already knows, but-”

“Why?”

“Because... what?”

“Why do you need to apologize?”

Asahi smiled as he looked at him.

“Because I did my best to save you, and yet... here we are. There's nothing we can do now.”

 _He_ wasn’t facing him when the grip on Asahi's hand tightened. “How dare you...”

And then, Nishinoya couldn’t hold it anymore.

“HOW DARE YOU?! After you jumped and swam all the way to get me?! After all you did for me, and you have the NERVE to feel guilty about this?! Who the fuck do you think you are?! _The last thing you did was hold me!!_ ”

But Asahi was too busy laughing, or crying, or maybe both, to pay attention to any of his words. Nishinoya probably felt like punching him, but when he looked at Asahi’s face, he saw himself too.

“And what on Earth are you laughing about?!”

“I, I’m sorry, Noya-san, it’s just… I’m so stupid! You were there the whole time, but I was too scared to look at you and now it’s been two weeks and-”

Suddenly, Asahi found himself too full of Nishinoya’s mouth to keep talking. There was no doubt about it: Asahi could taste him, so it had to be real.

When Nishinoya pulled off, he was laughing too. “Weren’t you going to tell me something?”

Asahi took a couple seconds to organize his thoughts. “I… am sorry?” Nishinoya punched him, and this time, he wasn’t euphoric enough to ignore the pain. “Ouch! I’m sor- I mean, um… I love you, Noya-san.”

“And I love you too, Asahi-san. Anything else you remember?”

This time, he was sure of the answer.

“I have to go back and say goodbye to our friends! God, Hinata-kun will feel so bad when he finds out I forgot his name.”

“You don’t have to tell him that part,” laughed Nishinoya.

“Will you come with me?”

“I said I wouldn’t leave without you, didn’t I? We still have time before the sunset.”

So they went back on their steps. Asahi didn’t let go of Nishinoya’s hand, and, after the sunset, he never looked away from his face again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, this hispanic girl appreciates any and all inputs about grammar/phrasing/lexicon/etc. If you think something sounds weird, don't hesitate to tell me in the comments!  
> [Comission info.](http://panconkiwi.tumblr.com/post/154558359169/you-can-see-examples-of-my-english-work-here)


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